The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-197726 filed on Jun. 30, 2000, including specification, claims, drawings, and summary is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inking apparatus control means for a rotary press, and more particularly, to a mechanism for automatically modifying the conditions for operating an oscillating roller when cleaning an ink supply apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink supply apparatus of a printing press for supplying ink to a surface of a plate attached to a plate cylinder comprises an ink fountain for storing ink, and a group of rollers for transferring ink from the ink fountain while uniformly distributing the ink in respective directions. The ink transferred to the end portion of the group of rollers is supplied to the plate cylinder via an ink form roller.
In general, such an ink supply apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an xe2x80x9cinkerxe2x80x9d) for effecting an ink supply operation employs a drive system such that the ink supply apparatus is mechanically connected to a driving side (main unit), which includes a plate cylinder and which rotates the plate cylinder, to thereby receive rotational torque from the driving side.
Further, for a short-time operation such as operation for printing preparation or operation for maintenance and cleaning of the inker, there has been developed a system for breaking a mechanical connection between the inker and the driving side by means of a clutch and for rotating the inker independently of the main unit by means of a separate drive source (motor) (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 63-315244).
Meanwhile, when a rainbow printing is to be performed for preventing forgery, an oscillation apparatus is built into the inker in order to adjust oscillation conditions such as an oscillation width of an oscillating roller and the number of times of oscillation strokes.
A known oscillation apparatus is of a hydraulic-control-type, in which ink stored in the ink fountain is supplied to the oscillating roller, and the oscillating roller is reciprocated along an axial direction thereof by means of a hydraulic cylinder, whereby the ink is supplied to the plate cylinder while being spread in the axial direction of the oscillating roller (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 63-264352 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 63-170138).
When the above-described inker is to be cleaned, the inker is mechanically disengaged from the main unit, and the group of rollers and the oscillating roller are rotated, while cleaning solution is jetted from cleaning nozzles toward the group of rollers. Such cleaning work has been performed while the oscillation width and the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller set for an ordinary printing are maintained.
In order to effectively perform the cleaning of the inker, the preset oscillation width can be changed to increase the oscillation width of the oscillating roller. However, in this case, the oscillation width of the oscillating roller must be reset to the original value after completion of the cleaning. Therefore, in actuality, cleaning has generally been performed with the oscillation width of the oscillating roller being maintained.
Therefore, cleaning of the group of rollers of the inker, as generally performed, was not always efficient.
Notably, since the oscillation speed is maintained constant during an ordinary printing, the oscillation speed has been difficult to change during cleaning.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide inking apparatus control means, which can automatically change conditions for operating an oscillating roller when a group of rollers of an inker are cleaned and which can automatically restore the original conditions after completion of the cleaning.
Another object of the present invention is to complete cleaning of the ink unit within a short period of time.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an inking apparatus control means for a rotary press, comprising an oscillating roller rotatable in a circumferential direction and reciprocatable along an axial direction thereof; and control means for controlling at least one of an oscillation width of the oscillating roller and a number of times of oscillations (i.e., oscillation speed) of the oscillating roller relative to a number of revolutions (i.e., rotational speed) of a plate cylinder, wherein at least one of the oscillation width of the oscillating roller and the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller relative to the number of revolutions of the plate cylinder assumes a designated value such that during a cleaning work, at least one of the oscillation width of the oscillating roller and the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller relative to the number of revolutions of the plate cylinder assume a predetermined value.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises an oscillation-width adjustment mechanism for adjusting an oscillation width of the oscillating roller; and oscillation-width adjustment means for operating the oscillation-width adjustment mechanism, wherein the control means controls operation of the oscillation-width adjustment means such that the oscillation width of the oscillating roller assumes a designated value such that the oscillating roller oscillates over a preset oscillation width during the cleaning work.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises an oscillation mechanism for reciprocating the oscillating roller; and oscillation-mechanism drive means for operating the oscillation mechanism, wherein the control means controls operation of the oscillation-mechanism drive means, on the basis of the number of revolutions of the plate cylinder, such that the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller relative to the number of revolutions of the plate cylinder assumes a designated value and such that the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller assume a predetermined value during the cleaning work.
Preferably, the control means rotates the oscillating roller at a preset number of revolutions (rotational speed) In this case, the oscillation mechanism drive means preferably rotates the oscillating roller at least during a cleaning work.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises a clutch for permitting and stopping transmission of rotation from the oscillation mechanism drive means to the oscillating roller. More preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises a main motor for rotating the plate cylinder and the oscillating roller; and connecting/disconnecting means for stopping and permitting transmission of rotation from the main motor to the oscillating roller, wherein the clutch is brought into connected and disconnected states in such a manner that a transmission of rotation from the oscillation-mechanism drive means to the oscillating roller is stopped when rotation is transmitted from the main motor to the oscillating roller by the connecting/disconnecting means and that rotation is transmitted from the oscillation-mechanism drive means to the oscillating roller when transmission of rotation from the main motor to the oscillating roller is stopped by the connecting/disconnecting means.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises a switch for starting the cleaning work, wherein in response to an operation of the switch, the control means control the oscillation-width adjustment means such that the oscillating roller oscillates over a preset oscillation width.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises a switch for starting the cleaning work, wherein in response to an operation of the switch, the control means controls the oscillation-mechanism drive means such that the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller assumes a preset value.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises a cleaning apparatus for cleaning the oscillating roller and a distribution roller supported rotatably in a circumferential direction and unmovable in an axial direction; setting means for setting conditions such that at least one of the oscillation width and the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller increases at the beginning of the cleaning; and a memory for storing at least one of a set value for the oscillation width and a set value for the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller, which set value is used before the setting is performed by setting means, wherein upon completion of the cleaning, the set value is read from the memory, and one of the oscillation width and the number of times of oscillations are reset to the original values used before the cleaning. In this case, preferably, the setting means sets one of the oscillation width and the number of times of oscillations of the oscillating roller to a maximum value; and/or the control means causes the oscillation-mechanism drive means to operate at a higher speed.
Preferably, the cleaning work is performed in a space formed as a result of separating a first frame which supports the cylinder and a second frame which supports the oscillating roller.
Preferably, the inking apparatus control means further comprises an oscillation mechanism for reciprocating the oscillating roller; an oscillation-mechanism drive means for operating the oscillation mechanism; an oscillation-width adjustment mechanism for adjusting an oscillation width of the oscillating roller; and oscillation-width adjustment means for operating the oscillation-width adjustment mechanism.
Preferably, the oscillation mechanism includes a swing member which swings upon operation of the oscillation-mechanism drive means, a moving member movably supported on the swing member, and an engagement member rotatably supported on the moving member and being in engagement with the oscillating roller; and the oscillation-width adjustment mechanism is configured such that, upon operation of the oscillation-width adjustment means, the oscillation-width adjustment mechanism moves the moving member to thereby adjust a distance between a swing center of the swing member and a rotation center of the engagement member. In this case, preferably, the moving member is slidably supported on the swing member.
Preferably, the oscillation mechanism includes a crank mechanism whose input side is connected to the oscillation-mechanism drive means, a swingably-supported swing lever whose base end side is connected to the output side of the crank mechanism, a slide lever slidably supported by the swing lever such that a distal end side of the slide lever can move toward and away from a swing center of the swing lever, a first link plate whose one end side is rotatably supported by the distal end side of the slide lever, a swingably-supported swing plate, the other end side of the first link plate being rotatably connected to the base end side of the swing plate, and a cam follower provided at the distal end side of the swing plate and inserted into a groove wheel of the oscillating roller; and the oscillation-width adjustment mechanism includes a worm gear connected to the oscillation-width adjustment means, a worm wheel in meshing engagement with the worm gear, a transmission shaft coaxially connected to the worm wheel, a second link plate whose one end side is connected to the transmission shaft, and the slide lever whose base end side is rotatably connected to the other end side of the second link plate.